Current broadband transmission occurs from broadband infrastructure providers to end users via such infrastructure as telephone DSL, TV cable, satellite, etc. Broadband content, such as movies, music, TV shows, web access, etc., that is transmitted over the broadband transmission infrastructure is provided by content providers. Some broadband infrastructure providers determine which content providers can provide content over their networks. For example, a cable television service provider determines which channels, such as HBO, ESPN, or CNN, are available to their end user customers.
Current state of the art of QoS (Quality of Service) is available for the broadband transmission infrastructure, that is the physical infrastructure from the broadband infrastructure service provider location to end user premise located broadband network devices, such as a DSL/cable termination, DSL/cable modem, wireless/wired router, or general access point. The QoS is applied to the physical transmission medium, and as such, the quality of all content provided over any given physical medium is dependent on the QoS of that given physical medium. All content provided over the given physical medium is subject to the same QoS.
However, the broadband infrastructure provider has no control over the actual content that is provided by the content providers. The broadband infrastructure provider may wish to manage, or even block, certain content within the content provided by the content provider, but is unable to modify the content provided. A QoS is not available for broadband “content”, especially from the end user broadband network device to an end user device such as a computer, TV, or telephone. In other words, current QoS methodologies enable broadband transmission infrastructures with required quality levels, but do not provide selective control of the “content” that is transmitted over these same infrastructures.